Twyla Tharp

Everybody has that feeling when they look at a work of art and it’s right, that sudden familiarity, a sort of…recognition, as though they were creating it themselves, as though it were being created through them while they look at it or listen to it.

Life is tough and if you’re creative, it’s tougher.

There’s no collection that has a better representation of post-war American art than David Geffen’s.

Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course.

I cry out for order and find it only in art.

I’m just an individual who doesn’t feel that I need to have somebody qualify my work in any particular way. I’m working for me.

Playing with freedom can only come after a certain amount of foundational study.

In the field of art, to be able to have lunch with Kirk Varnedoe is thrilling. I met him at Si and Victoria Newhouse’s dinner one night. Barnett Newman’s widow was there. That’s the part of me that’s a fan. Like when I was a kid and went to the Brooklyn Paramount. Well, my interest has expanded, and it’s not just rock-and-roll.

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

Mother’s taste was eclectic and ranged from the ancient world to the contemporary from Europe to the U.S.

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

I got more publicity for not doing a festival than for doing the festival.

Art is self expression. If you are expressing someone else’s personality, that is not art.

The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.

A museum has to renew its collection to be alive, but that does not mean we give on important old works.